


The Bodyguard » Niall Horan

by wildfowls



Category: One Direction (Band), niall horan - Fandom
Genre: Bodyguard, F/M, the bodyguard - Freeform, wildfowls
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-02
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-10-20 23:27:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17631758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildfowls/pseuds/wildfowls
Summary: When twenty-three-year-old pop star Niall Horan gets multiple and very detailed death threats by an unknown and untrackable source,  his management decides to respond: a fabricated relationship between the pop star and a secret agent.Mercer Adelaide Fulton is twenty-three-year-old and ruthless,  fluent in every possible martial arts and the best secret agent the MI6 could ever wish for. When her boss briefs her the new mission, she's furious. Could the threat against the bratty pop star really be that big?© Wildfowls





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thank you so much for giving my Niall Horan fanfic a chance. I truly hope you like it, and if you do, please let me know and spread the word. Loads of love x

Chapter 1.

"Morning, Fulton." " Morning Jarrod."

"Hiya Mercer, had a good trip?" "Sure thing, especially since I didn't come across your face all month." "You Rock, Mercer."

"I know. You're welcome."

The department Kenneth, my adoptive father, was in charge of was in full work mode. They all greeted me, and I greeted them. A woman on dad's floor was a rarity and every opportunity of anything flirtatious would be taken. You had to be truly confident to walk this floor as a woman, or they'd eat you alive.

I stood in front of the open doors of the chief of this department, Kenneth McCoy. He was staring absentmindedly through the thick glass. I knocked on the door. " Knock Knock." The tall man turned around and on its tired face appeared a large smile. I dropped my duffel bag on the floor.

" Mercer! So good to see you, love. Come over here, I've missed you! Welcome home." He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a bone-crunching cuddle. " Dad, watch out. They might pick on your descending masculinity." I mumbled in his shirt. He laughed his typical laugh and let go of me. " They know they can't pick on a McCoy." He leaned against his desk and studied my face.

" How was Bootcamp?" He asked. I sat down on one of his chairs he had stood in front of his desk.

" Like always." I started. " Let me guess," dad stopped me, " You hit the bullseye with all shots, they re-use every scenario and you showed the newbies the legend that is Mercer Fulton?" He looked at me with a pulled up eyebrow and a smirk on his face. I started laughing.

" Kind of like that. Just that last bit happened on the first evening when the recruits thought they could kidnap me in the middle of the night and dress me down in the shared bathroom." Dad's face sank into anger. I shook my head. " Don't worry, they didn't get to that. Let's say all five of them had to go to the ER and were punished by the Bootcamp leaders the next morning when they heard what happened. I mean, I hadn't said anything but their damaged faces were enough proof."

" That's what I'm talking about Mercer. No man has the right to do so." He turned around and walked to his chair.

" Mer, Waterlane asked about you. If you could get to his office as soon as you were back." I sat upright. " Stan? What does he want from me?" I asked dad, who avoided my eyes.

" I don't know, but he wanted you to stop by today." I noticed he was lying about the fact that he didn't know. I decided to leave it. " Well, then I might hop by his office," I said and stood up.

" Mer, your mum asked if you wanted to join us for dinner tonight. Claire is coming too. It's lasagna night." I nodded. The McCoy lasagna was a local phenomenal no one would resist. " Sure, I'll see you tonight," I said and grabbed my duffel bag off the floor.

"Where are those pretty legs going?" Garrett called from his desk to me. " Garrett Dane, I would like it if you proceeded with your assignment, rather than looking at my daughter's legs," Dad blared from inside his office. Garrett's face turned bright red. " Yes, boss," He mumbled and crept down his cubicle. I smirked.

Stan Waterlane's office was a floor above mine, on the floor where all the big bosses with gigantic offices were housed. Ones I rarely ever saw, except for Stan, obviously. Stan was the sub-director of the MI6 and briefed missions. The upper boss, the chieftain of this insane government building, was Jameson Hunt. He was old and wrinkly, but don't let that eighty-year-old-looking face fool you. He knew everything, saw everything. Not one to mess with, that's for sure.

I stood in front of Waterlane's assistant's desk. Emma, I believe she was called.

" Hi. I was asked to meet mister Waterlane right away." I explained. She checked his agenda and nodded. " Yes, that's correct. Please, follow me." She stood up and lead the way with her hip-hopping hips. She knocked on the thick, probably armored, doors and opened them just slightly. I heard her talking to him, and him to her. I looked around, hopping from one foot on another.

" You may go in," Emma said and stepped aside. I nodded in reply and stepped past her into his office.

Waterlane was sat at his gigantic desk covered in documents. I wondered how he could find anything in there.

His office was very luxurious and posh. They had laid a thick carpet on the floor where my feet sank into. Everything was toned in a dark grey colour: his desk, the bookshelves, the floor, carpet and everything else. The only colour I could find was in a drawing made by his daughter and a family picture behind him. Waterlane himself blended right in with his office. Perhaps a new way of camouflage.

"Agent Fulton, I'm glad you could come this soon. Please, take a seat." He shook my hand from behind his desk. It was firm and strong, as expected from a man with his job. I sat down on one of the grey chairs. "Of course, sir. What did you want to talk to me about?" Waterlane shifted in his seat and folded his hands on his stomach.

"As you know, we recruited you when you were a corporal in the British Army two years ago. We obviously knew you already from your father, Kenneth McCoy, so we knew what qualities you had." I didn't know what to think of his complimenting speech. Where would this lead to?

"Now, there's been a major raise on death treats with multiple artists, actors, and actresses. And with death threats, we don't just mean how they wish a certain artist should die, no, absolutely not. They're extremely detailed. Slowly, painful and places where they feel the safest at." Stan stopped talking for a bit.

"There's a certain person who's been threatened so badly, his management wants to lock him up in his own home." He tapped with his thumbs on his stomach.

"But then, they stopped by at our office, if perhaps we could find out what was going on. Well, we did try. We checked the letters, tried to find out where they were sent from, but we can't yet narrow it down to a specific place in England. This person is very specific, goal-oriented and clever enough to leave no single trace." I had a feeling about his coming words.

"Don't they get threats on a daily basis?" I asked skeptically. Stan nodded. "I knew you'd ask. Yes, of course, they do. Hate emails, letters, packages... The whole deal. But these letters have been coming for multiple weeks." I shifted in my seat. "What kind of threats we're talking about?" I asked.

Waterlane pulled out a plastic forensic bag from an envelope. " A bullet." I pulled up my eyebrows. Sure, that went pretty far. " What exactly is it that you want from me, Waterlane?" I asked him.

"You see... All skilled bodyguards have been hired. This case has been ongoing at Scotland Yard for a few months too, who can't miss any of their policemen." He pursed his lips. " We would like it if you would take this case to protect him." Oh, it was a guy. Right. I swallowed back a lot of first reactions, knowing I would have to be packing my bags to never be inside this building ever again.

"I don't remember being a bodyguard was in my job description." I managed to say. My fists were clenched together in frustration. I did not want this job. "We are in service of Her Majesty The Queen and her citizens. In a way, this person also belongs to the last category."

I pulled a face. Waterlane sighed when he saw my disapproval. "Believe me, Mercer, I would've put you on a different case if it was on me. It's just that his management is looking for a female agent." I raised my eyebrows. "A female agent?" I asked. Waterlane nodded slowly. I let it sink in. This wasn't exactly what I dreamed of, but this was a case that yielded a fair amount of money.

" Sure," I said rather casual. " Sure, I'll do it. Why not?" I said and shrugged. " Well, there are a few conditions to that task. Or let's say one giant condition." I waited until he went on.

"They want to fabricate a love story around it." Waterlane studied my face while every possible feeling was going through my body.

They wanted me to 'date' him?! A fake relationship with a celebrity? They had to be kidding me. I stood up and walked to the door. I bit my lip, hard, and turned back around after a few seconds.

"Have they gone completely mad?!" I yelled in complete disbelief. "Sure, I'll protect the guy and I would even take a bullet for him if I had to. But a fake relationship? What is all that nonsense about?" Waterlane swallowed. " It's just... That it's unusual for a woman to protect a man. That's why they came up with that." That made it even worse.

"What is wrong with his arrogant, sexist management? In what year do we live, for Christ sake?! Sure, his bodyguards are all men, aren't they?" I started pacing through his office out of anger. Something I'd never done or would've dared to do. Waterlane seemed to understand my frustration.

"They asked for a woman. Besides that, you're the best agent we've got here, hands down. Then again, you're also his age. It'd be weird sending someone in her mid-forties. And please, stop pacing and take a seat, Mercer." I noticed he got irritated with me, so I did what he said and sat down again.

"I understand this is a lot to process, trust me." Waterlane said calmly. " Well, that's one way of saying it," I mumbled. Waterlane pretended he hadn't heard me and continued his advocacy. "The problem is that you can't refuse this mission. It's already been put into operation and," He held his hand up before I could protest, " Before you say anything, I'm not the one who gave a go for this. My boss did." Waterlane said.

"Hunt approved this mission?" I asked incredulously. Waterlane nodded. " It's all been gone by him. I'm just here to brief you. So, if you feel like ranting and create a scène, then please be my guest. He's in right now. He might reconsider sending you on this mission. Or reconsider you being an agent."

Well, that was all loud and clear. I could hate and debate all about it, but it wouldn't get me a way out of this mess. Damn it. " Is that all?" I asked politely, suppressing my anger. Waterlane handed me a document file with a yellow, sealed envelope. "In here you can find your assignment en everything you'll need to know about the person you're going to be protecting. There's also a new valid passport with a new identity in it. He's allowed to know your real name, but the rest of the world will know you as someone else. As usual, we must ask you not to contact your family during your mission, as we don't know who is sending these threats.

You can reach us with the phone that's in the envelope, with a secured line with your contact inside the bureau, Kellan Blake, you probably know him. You'll have to update him every week, and as usual, we like you to keep a diary about the progress. I don't have to tell you to keep an eye on him, I suppose." I nodded. No contact with my family, update regularly, different name... The standard.

" When will I leave?" I asked. "I have managed to push it back until tomorrow morning. A little bird told me Helen McCoy's creating her famous lasagna." I smiled at him. " Thanks for that." I took the package and the file off Waterlane's desk. " Good luck, Mercer." I didn't reply.

I left his office and passed the secretary without saying bye, towards the elevator.

When the lift doors closed in front of me, I opened the file. A familiar face graced on the attached picture. "You've got to be kidding me," I mumbled, not quite believing it myself.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two  
Back in my cubicle, I went through the dossier, checked my new identity and tried to calm myself down. I knew that my dad knew that they'd given me an idiotic mission, although unaware of the details. Details I couldn't share with anyone. The undercover name I'd been given, was Sadie Mae Iverson. I sometimes wondered who came up with these names. Perhaps it was Hunt himself, although I wondered if he'd be that creative. He'd go for a typical Sarah Smith or Emma Johnson.

In my apartment in the Dalston neighbourhood, I had packed my bags. It was quite difficult to put together a wardrobe that'd suit a future celebrity. I owned enough dresses, but none of those were capable of disguising my weapons. I also had no clue what type of dresses were in fashion lately, because I only wore practical clothes at work. And I rarely did anything else besides work. I probably had to go shopping sometime soon then, if It were really necessary.

So. I was appointed as a bodyguard to some famous nitwit. Niall Horan, a solo artist who once was a member of a boyband called One Direction. I didn't even need to look at his fact sheets to know that, just staring at his headshot embedded in the file had been enough. And besides, I had to play Miss Nitwit, for the time being. I had to smile at piercing cameras and make funny jokes around the press. I had no trouble acting since I was a special agent after all, but acting that I liked this mission was quite difficult. Which already became apparent when Helen opened the front door for me, when I parked my motorcycle in front of my parents' house in Dulwich, south of Central London.

"Rough day?" mum asked when I had hugged her and had let me inside. "Don't even get me started." I sighed," I'd love to tell you why, but that's classified, unfortunately." Mum laughed. " You're taking it after your father, Mer." I hung my leather jacket on an empty peg in the hallway, put my helmet on the stairs and followed mum into the kitchen. Dad and Claire were there already. Dad was reading his paper at the dining table and Claire was angrily typing on her laptop. They looked up their works when I came in.

"Mer! It's been too long!" Claire closed her laptop and jumped off her barstool. She hugged me tightly. Claire was a breathtaking beauty. She was tall, had legs for days, her hair had a rich chocolatey colour and her eyes were of a bright green colour she could make her opponents shit themselves with. She was a lawyer and a damned good one. She got married to a journalist of The Daily Mail, Ronan Murray, only six months ago. He was probably still working, as he wasn't here today.

I seated myself in front of dad, who lowered his paper to look at me. "You don't like it." He stated as he stared at my face. "That's the understatement of the century," I said, pointing my finger at him. Dad snorted.

"Did you know it's not even Waterlane who's behind all of this? No, that arse called Hunt decided I had to do this mission." I said, trying to get my disbelief off my chest without revealing anything about my mission. Dad put down his paper. " Jameson Hunt approved a mission?" Dad asked in surprise, "I haven't experienced that in my long-long life. I believe I've seen that man only a handful of times since I started working there."

"I heard people think he's an immortal. I mean, shouldn't he be retired already?" I asked dad and traced the woodgrains on the oak table with my finger. "Considering his wrinkly and very old head, I'd say he must've been. But Mercer, please don't pick a fight with that man. He won't play fair nor will he treat you that way. Ignore him, and you'll be able to get your pension yourself." 

"Thanks for the tip. Waterlane had offered me to duel with Hunt in his office, but I backed away from that." Dad nodded. " Good job." 

Mum sat down next to me. " Ronan called this morning," She said. I turned towards her. Ronan was my older brother by seven years, and also my only biological sibling. He moved to Darwin, Australia a few years back. He met his wife there, Ava. I got along well with him, but our work schedules made it difficult to talk as often as I wished we could. " How's he doing?" I asked. " Very well, Ava too. Their dog's pregnant." I smirked. "I expected Ava to be first, to be honest." Mum nodded in agreement.

Ronan and I were both adopted by the McCoy family. I was six, Ronan thirteen. He had a tough time growing up in a new family, but he considered the McCoys as his own family.

The oven beeped. " The lasagne is done!" Dad folded his paper, and Claire again, shut her laptop close. " Let's feast." I joked.


	3. Chapter 3

I hated traveling by metro. It was always overcrowded, often filthy and it's commuters loud. With my weekend bag between my legs, I was sat next to an old man and a teenage girl wearing an extremely short dress. She was provocatively munching her chewing gum. Her sound was so loud, that I could tell which punk rock song she was listening to. A little further away, a lady was chatting away on her telephone. Her voice blared through the metro. She must've been from somewhere near Edinburgh, Scotland. She was talking about a bad break-up, and how she was better off without that 'bastard.'

I was very happy to arrive at my stop, Parsons Green, and fled the metro as quickly as I could.

It was a short walk from Parsons Green to the Matrix Complex. The vehicle I was allowed to drive in, had been taken back by the Bureau until I finished my mission and I refused to put down half my loan for an Uber. I had been informed that his management would be arranging a vehicle, an armored one luckily. I expected to receive it later today. Kids were playing in a park I crossed, their mums chatting on benches whilst checking up on their children. It was a nice day, considering it was only April.

After a few minutes, I arrived at the destined address. It was a humongous building, guarded by two men. I had no trouble passing them. Inside I was met by a secretary. "How can I help you?" She asked me. She had put her hair into two topknots, which reminded me of my old photos as a kid. "Hi, I'm Sadie Iverson, I've got an appointment," I told her. I had repeated that sentence a dozen times before leaving my house today. I still couldn't get used to that name.

The secretary stared at her computer. "Oh yes, right. I will show you the way." She stood up and left her desk unattended. Risky, I thought. We passed dozens of rooms until we ended in some sort of conference room at the far end of the building. I had noticed the pictures of all their signed celebrities on the wall in the hallways. I also noticed Niall on one of them. I was the only one here yet.

"They should be arriving shortly. Please, make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to drink? Coffee, tea or perhaps some water?" The secretary asked me. "Water, please." I nodded as I sat down on one of the luxury leather chairs. I put the bag on the floor next to me. The secretary came back a little later with a bottle of water. "If there's anything I can do for you, you can push that button right there. It's a straight connection to me," She said and left the room with a smile.

I unscrewed the cap of my water bottle and took a sip. I took a good look around. It was boring, like all conference rooms. The table wasn't that large, so I expected this room to be used for small gatherings. Considering how new the carpets and the chairs looked, the room wasn't used often. The table wasn't scratched and the walls had paintings with inspiring quotes hanging on them. Probably very expensive, but I had no eye for that kind of thing.

There was some tumult on the other side of the door, of which I could only hear half. "- that's idiotic, because-" The door opened, and a group of people came walking in. Five men, one of which was our destined popstar. I stood up when Niall's eyebrows rose. " What's this? I thought they'd be sending an MI6 agent?" He had turned towards a man wearing a suit, probably his manager. I couldn't place the other three men. Probably two bodyguards and an extra guy studying his case from a distance.

"This is someone from the MI6. This is Mercer Fulton," The manager told his client. Niall's flabbergasted face went from his manager to me and back to his manager. He burst into laughter. "You mean I will be protected by a woman?" I clenched my hands into fists behind my back. What a dick. "For how long has she been working for them, anyway? I thought they'd be sending their best agent. I was expecting a man, not a woman." He snorted. His manager shot an annoying glance in his direction.

"Mercer is a really good agent. I've seen her resume myself. Besides that, she will be your girlfriend. Perhaps that'll burst your sales a little." His manager said, clearly pushing Niall back to the place he was supposed to be. " You mean a setup couple? Are you insane?" Niall managed to say. " I am not going to pretend to be in love with that human! You better find something else!" Something burst inside me when he called me 'that human.' I strode calmly towards him, and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pushed him against the wall. I pinned him down rather easily.

"Hi, I'm Mercer. Nice to meet you." I said, my voice calm and controlled. Behind me, I heard how Niall's manager pushed his bodyguards back. I tilted my head to the side and stared at him, my eyes clenched to slits. "Oh, nice to meet you too, Mercer. I'm so happy you're here to protect me," I imitated his voice. "You're welcome. Niall, wasn't it? You forgot to introduce yourself. That's alright, you probably assume the whole world knows your name, " I said pushing him a little harder against the wall.

"Say, Niall. I'm very good at my job. I have the skills to turn perfectly fine people into cripples, break their bones and even kill them in a matter of seconds. Only when it's deserved, of course. I can torture people without my conscience being bothered by it and I can drive a car like no other woman can. What I'm doing right now, I can keep up the whole day. I am trained to protect my people, and this task is currently limited to you. Trust me, out of all people I could pick, you'd be the last person to be my fake boyfriend. But you don't hear me whine, do you? No. Because I'm no fool and I do what I'm told. Yes, I would rather be on the beach in Australia than being here having to teach you a lesson here about how women are perfectly capable of working for the MI6." Niall's face was full of fear. "Thanks for listening." I dropped my hold of him and walked back to the chair I had been sitting in seconds ago. His bodyguards, his manager and his plus one stared at me with surprise on their faces. Niall frantically put his collar back into its original position.

"So, my real name is Mercer, as you might have heard. Because no one can ever know my real name, you will from now on know me as Sadie Mae Iverson. To be able to do my job, my bosses as well as yours," I said to Niall, "decided that I have to pretend to be your girlfriend for the time being. No fun, for either of us, but we'll have to make the best of it." 

I looked back at his manager. "My boss told me there'd be a vehicle present after we'd be done. An armored one, for the safety of our client." His manager nodded. "It's on standby," he said and looked over at Niall again. "Miss Iverson will have to move in, so she can protect you at home, too." 

"You've got to be kidding me, right?" Niall started to remind me of a kid in a toy store, who's mum just refused to buy his desired toy for him. "Niall, this is for your own good. It's this or house arrest for the next months. I can't afford you to be killed on the spot." Niall was staring angrily at his manager. "Fine. But don't think you've heard the last of it." He moved his glance to me. "I'm ready. Let's go," he grumbled. 

" Fine." 

I grabbed my bag off the floor. In passing, Niall's manager handed me the keys. " it's a black Range Rover Vogue," he said. As I took the keys, he added: "Make sure he'll stay alive."   
I nodded. " That's my job, after all."


	4. Chapter 4

The atmosphere in the car was far from friendly. While I maneuvred my way through the terrible London traffic to get to Niall's house, which address was etched into my brain, Niall was on his phone. He kept scrolling and scrolling, looked at something and scrolled some more. I clenched the steering wheel even tighter. We were the same age, but he behaved like a five-year-old. 

The weather had changed into drizzly rain. The clock on my dashboard told me it was around tea time. "Have you eaten anything yet?" I asked, breaking the silence. Niall almost seemed surprised that I could talk. "I'm not hungry," He shared, his tone blunt. 

"Okay. Well, if you don't mind, I'll quickly go through the McDrive for a few chicken McNuggets and some chips." 

"Won't that make you fat?" He mocked me. I pulled up my eyebrows. "Aren't you used to seeing a woman eat anything other than a green Caesar salad?" I bounced back. Those sodding chips would be off after tomorrow's training, I thought to myself. Niall didn't respond and shifted his focus back to his cellphone and the electronic world.

I pulled up the McDrive and waited for my turn. "You sure you don't want anything?" I asked when it was nearly my turn. Niall shook his head and muttered something I couldn't hear. I decided not to pay attention to it. I ordered my meal at the pole, and it took only a few minutes until my food was ready and put in the backseat of the car. The whole car smelled of fries on our silent trip to his house.

Niall, unsurprisingly, had a rather big house with loads of glass and even a driveway with gates. I parked my car and got my stuff out of the car, including my food. I had to admit he had great taste when I followed him inside. It was rather manly, but stylish nonetheless. I wondered if he'd done this himself or had an interior designer do all the work for him. "Where can I put my stuff?" I asked. Niall pointed to his right. "The guest room is right there. It's an ensuite." I nodded and walked the way Niall had pointed me.

It was a large room with a kingsize bed, two bedside tables with lights on them, a desk in the corner with a chair and a built-in closet. The bathroom was fine too, though a little dusty because it wasn't used often. I locked the door and opened up my luggage. Out of one of my bags, I took a weapon case. I entered my code and opened it up. My Glock 17 and my SIG Sauer P226 revealed themselves, along with enough ammo to take out half the British Armed Forces. I took my other Glock 17 out of my gun holster that was attached to my belt. Beneath the 'normal' Glock and SIG was my dissembled SA89A2 standard rifle, a gift from the Head of the British Armed Forces after my served time. It got approved for this mission, but only for exceptional use. Normally these kinds of weapons wouldn't even be used by Six employees.

I put the Glock 17 in the empty cavity after taking the magazine out. I shut the case again and pushed it under the bed, as there wasn't anywhere else I could keep them.


End file.
